This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art. This section provides a general summary of the disclosure, and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features.
It is common practice in automotive manufacturing settings to employ a crankshaft assembly system to assembly and/or balance a crankshaft for an engine. Generally, these crankshaft assembly systems include a pedestal support having a retractable arm to releasably retain a crankshaft on the pedestal support during processing. Such processing of the crankshaft can include drilling, shaving, mounting, tapping, and the like. Moreover, the processing of the crankshaft can be part of a balancing system for balancing the rotational mass of the crankshaft assembly.
According to the principles of the present teachings, a crankshaft balancer suspension system for measuring an imbalance of a crankshaft is provided. The crankshaft balancer suspension system has a base structure, a measurement bridge structure configured to support the crankshaft during rotation, and a plurality of flexural support legs extending between the base structure and the measurement bridge structure. The plurality of flexural support legs being sized and shaped to permit flexure of the measurement bridge structure relative to the base structure. The crankshaft balancer suspension system further having a drive system having a drive shaft connectable to the crankshaft for rotating the crankshaft and a sensor coupled to the measurement bridge structure for detecting an imbalance in the crankshaft during rotation and outputting imbalance data.
Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. The description and specific examples in this summary are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.